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##  Recent Reading Initiatives: Examples of National, State, and                    Professional Organizations' Efforts. ERIC Digest.                            

Statistics on the literacy skills of America's children reveal a                disturbing situation. Approximately 40 percent of students across               the nation cannot read at a basic level. And for low-income                     students, the figure is much worse (No Child Left Behind, 2002). In             response to this situation, a number of efforts are                             underway-spearheaded by federal and state policymakers and a number             of independent organizations-to remedy the situation. This Digest               looks at some of the most recent of those initiatives. FEDERAL                EFFORTSIn 1997, Congress asked the National Institute of Child              Health and Human Development to form a panel to review and evaluate             the various approaches used in reading instruction. The National                Reading Panel (NRP) conducted a two-year study in which panel                   members reviewed over one hundred thousand studies on how students              learn to read. The panel also held a series of open panel and                   regional meetings to gather input from policymakers, educators, and             parents across the nation. 
The NRP's findings were published in               April of 2000, and identified what the panel believed to be the most            important components of reading instruction. These were                         alphabetic's (both phonemic awareness and phonics instruction),                 fluency, comprehension, teacher education, and computer                         technology. 
The findings of the NRP report were important in the              development of Reading First, the literacy component of President               Bush's 2001 "No Child Left Behind" Act. Reading First is a state                grant program that will provide some $6 billion over the next                   several years to fund scientifically based reading-improvement                  efforts. The funds will be awarded to programs that teach the                   following five key early reading skills: phonemic awareness,                    phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The first grants               were awarded in August of 2002 to be used for the 2002-2003 school              year. STATE EFFORTSThere are many ongoing state reading                   initiatives. While they vary in approach, scope, and success, most              share similar instructional concepts. 
According to the Education              Commission of the States (2001), the most common strategies used by             state programs are "1) preventing and intervening with reading                  difficulties; 2) imposing consequences for students who do not meet             reading standards; 3) promoting or mandating particular reading                 approaches or programs; 4) providing additional or better data; 5)              providing teachers with skills and knowledge; 6) setting standards,             developing reading plans; and 7) assessing readiness for                        school." 
One of the state efforts is the Texas Reading Initiative.            Now in its fourth year, the initiative utilizes a scientific                    research-based, multi-pronged approach that aims to have all                    children reading at or above grade level by their third-grade year.             The program consists of six major components: 
1. Leadership                   development. A key element of the state's professional development              efforts is the use of Teacher Reading Academies-intensive, four-day             training sessions on scientific research-based reading instruction,             for kindergarten and 1st-grade teachers. 
2. Diagnostic assessment.            The Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) is the primary instrument            used to test K-2 students. It measures ability in the areas of print            awareness, phonemic awareness, graphophonemic knowledge, oral                   reading ability, and reading comprehension skills. 
3.                         Comprehensive research-based programs. The state's reading                      instruction program focuses on oral language, reading, and writing,             and emphasizes phonemic awareness, concepts of print, decoding,                 comprehension strategies, literary response/analysis,                           inquiry/research, writing to learn, and grammar and spelling. 
4.              Intermediate intervention. Students identified as struggling readers            are placed in accelerated reading programs, and receive an                      additional 30 minutes of interventional instruction by specially                trained teachers. 
5. Progress monitoring. Teachers assess                     individual students' reading performance on an ongoing basis, and               provide differentiated instruction that allows them to proceed and              succeed at their own pace. 
6. End-of-year performance analysis.               Student performance is monitored annually via the Texas Assessment              of Knowledge and Skills and other district-approved assessment                  instruments. 
Another state effort is the Alabama Reading                      Initiative, begun in 1997, when more than 97,000 of the state's                 third- through eleventh-grade students scored in the lowest quarter             of the nation in reading. The resulting strategy for improvement is             scientifically-based and focuses on three areas. The first,                     Beginning Reading, emphasizes development of phonemic awareness and             systematic teaching of language decoding skills. The second,                    Expanding Reading Power, aims to maintain high literacy levels in               middle and high school students through ongoing vocabulary                      development, increased reading, and building explicit links between             reading and writing. Alabama's third area of focus is Effective                 Intervention, which identifies and provides specialized instruction             for children who are reading below grade level. 
An evaluation of              the Alabama program, conducted in its second year, showed that                  students in the participating schools had already made gains on the             Stanford reading test. Additionally, teachers in the participating              schools reported a number of positive changes-including improved                student and teacher attitudes. 
Other state programs include: 
*              The South Carolina Reading Initiative. This state's program, a                  three-year initiative, utilizes district and regional literacy                  coaches to provide onsite administrators and teachers with support              and direction. 
* The Oregon Reading Initiative: Reading Together!             Oregon's plan emphasizes teacher development, calling for higher                standards to prepare new teachers and state institutes to train                 teachers in reading strategies. It also stresses family and                     community involvement and manageable class size as key                          factors. PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS' EFFORTSIn addition to                federal and state programs, a number of literacy initiatives have               been launched by independent nonprofit organizations. Some examples             are listed below. 
* Success for All is a literacy program premised            on the belief that every child can read. Based on studies in reading            and cooperative learning, it emphasizes oral reading by both                    teachers and students, discussion, story retelling, and a host of               cooperative reading and writing activities. Since its inception in              1987, Success for All has grown to include some 1,500 schools in 47             states. It focuses on disadvantaged and at-risk students, serving               primarily high-poverty Title I schools. 
* Children's Literacy                 Initiative (CLI) is also aimed at boosting the reading skills of                children from low-income homes. The program centers around                      professional development for K-3 teachers, beginning with a                     three-day training institute and following up with one-on-one,                  onsite coaching. Some studies on the effectiveness of CLI indicate              that the program results in improved reading and vocabulary test                performance for participating students (Children's Literacy                     Initiative, 2000). 
* The NCTE Reading Initiative is an intensive,             three-year professional development program offered by the National             Council of Teachers of English. The initiative is based on "insights            from school change research; the learning potential of                          inquiry-based, constructivist theories for learners of all ages; and            the trans-disciplinary knowledge base on literacy and literacy                  instruction" (NCTE, 2000). 
* Born to Read is a three-year national            demonstration project conducted by the American Library                         Association.  It is designed to create a model for partnership                  between library workers and health care providers, with the goal of             teaching new and expectant at-risk parents to "raise readers." There            are currently five libraries functioning as demonstration sites for             the program. REFERENCESAlabama Reading Initiative Is Bright               Spot for Learning. Education Reporter. (2000, February). Retrieved              from                                                                            http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2000/feb00/al-reading.html                    
Association for Library Services to Children of American Library              Association. (2001). Born to read: A project fact sheet. Retrieved              September 8, 2002, from                                                         http://www.ala.org/alsc/born.html 
Children's Literacy                         Initiative. (2000). The effectiveness of the CLI Program: 3 Studies.            Retrieved September 8, 2002, from                                               http://www.cliontheweb.org/about2a.html 
Fulton, M. & Porter,                  M. (2001). Common State Strategies to Improve Student Reading.                  Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States. 
National Council              of Teachers of English. (2000). NCTE Reading Initiative: Curriculum             Overview. Retrieved on September 9, 2002, from                                  http://www.ncte.org/readinit/curriculum/curriculum.shtml 
National             Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel:                    Teaching Children to Read. Washington, DC: National Institute of                Child Health and Human Development.                                             http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/ 
Oregon Department of                     Education. (n.d.). Reading Together! The Oregon Reading Initiative.             Retrieved September 8, 2002, from                                               http://www.ode.state.or.us/reading/readbro.pdf 
Slavin, R. &                   Madden, N. (1999). Success for All/Roots and Wings: Summary of                  research on achievement and outcomes. Baltimore: Center for Research            on the Education of Students Placed at Risk. 
South Carolina State             Department of Education. (2002). Governor's Institute of Reading: SC            Reading Initiative. Retrieved on September 9, 2002, from                        http://www.myscschools.com/offices/cso/governorreadinginst/sc_read_i            nit.htm 
Texas Reading Initiative/Texas Education Agency. (n.d.).              Six Components of the Texas Reading Initiative. Retrieved on                    September 8, 2002, from                                                         http://www.tea.state.tx.us/reading/model/sixpillars.html 
U.S.                 Department of Education. (2002). The Facts about... Reading First.              Retrieved on September 9, 2002, from                                            http://www.nclb.gov/start/facts/readingfirst.html 
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Digest              #175 is EDO-CS-02-06 published in October 2002 by the ERIC                      Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication, 2805 E 10th                St. #140, Bloomington, IN 47408, 1-800-759-4723. Full text at:                  http://eric.indiana.edu. ERIC Digests are in the public domain and              may be freely reproduced. 
This project is funded at least in part             with Federal funds from the US Dept. of Education (contract #                   ED-99-CO-0028). The content of this publication does not necessarily            reflect the views or policies of the US Dept. of Education nor does             mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply             endorsement by the US Government                                             **Title:** Recent Reading Initiatives: Examples of National, State, and                    Professional Organizations' Efforts. ERIC Digest.                            **Note:** Digest number 175.                                                           **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, 2805 E.              10th St., #140, Bloomington, IN 47408-2698. Web site:                           http://eric.indiana.edu. Family Learning Association, 3925 Hagan                St., #101, Bloomington, IN 47401. Tel: 800-759-4723; Web site:                  http://www.kidscanlearn.com.                                                 **Descriptors:** Elementary Secondary Education, Federal Government, Government Role,             Literacy, Professional Associations,  Reading Improvement,  Reading            Instruction,  Reading Programs, Student Needs                                **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  Reading First, State Initiatives                              
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